Tag Archives: third trimester

Our resident baby blogger, Lynette, shares how she is feeling in the third trimester.

I can’t believe that as I sit here and write this I am 33 weeks pregnant, with our little lady wriggling around inside my tummy like mad. I feel like I have blinked and the last 8 months have flown by. This is my second pregnancy and it has been a completely different experience than my first with our beautiful son. With your first child, you are entering the unknown. I read many books, advising me on what happens in pregnancy and labour. I will say that many of them were right in what they were saying in hindsight, but at the time I was a little freaked out by them. I remember thinking “how can it stretch that far?”or “how did that baby fit in there?”, but it does and they do.

So now that I am on the home straight or the Third trimester as the professionals call it, how am I feeling? The simple answer to that question is, excited, nervous, fretting and blessed.

I am excited about meeting our beautiful daughter. My husband, son and I have conversations most evenings about what we will think she look like. My son was the double of my husband when he was born. In fact he was his little mini me. So I am hoping that she will look like me. I found it quite upsetting how everyone commented on how much our son looked like his dad. Not because my husband isn’t a looker, I think he is hot anyway. But, merely down to the fact that I had been in labour, I had done the hard work, couldn’t someone at least say “isn’t he like you”. However, this time I am going to embrace whatever people say. As D day gets closer we are looking at names and we have now officially made a decision, but we are not telling anyone yet.

Why am I nervous when I have done this before? I think it is only human to be apprehensive of things. But what I have come to realise is that this is what our bodies are designed to do. I have been listening to my yoga and relaxation CD from MamaBabyBliss and I have to say I was skeptical at first but the CD is really relaxing and it has chilled me out. It certainly has enabled me to focus my mind somewhere else and if you are like me and suffer with anxiety then I would recommend it.

I’m trying to think of things that I want to do differently this time round in labour. I whole heartedly focused on labour last time, which I don’t think helped as silly as that sounds. This time I intend on going into labour with a full face of makeup and decent hair. Why? You may ask. I figured that when the contractions start I need to focus my energy somewhere else as it can be a long process. I’m not going to lie, it takes a lot of work to get this face looking decent, so thats a couple of hours sorted. I am also going to read a book if I can. I am an English teacher, I love reading. I find that I lose myself in books, and don’t notice what is going on around me.

I also said that I was fretting. I am obviously fretting because I had a difficult birth last time. However, looking back, it is that experience that gave us our beautiful son and I can only in some respects see that as a positive. So why else am I fretting? When I had our son, because there was a chance I may have to have an emergency section (thankfully I didn’t) they came round to tidy my “area”. This has to be the biggest all time low in my life. Normally well kept I explained to the midwife who laughed. But like I explained to her, “how can you trim the hedges when you can’t even see the bush.” I can not go through this again, any dignity I did have went in that 5 mins. So a trip to the grooming parlour is in order!

The midwife asked my husband at our last appointment would he be active in the labour and would he watch the baby coming out. Now, I know this is an experience that all partners should be part of and my husband will be there in the labour room and will be very much an active part of the labour. I don’t know how I would have coped first time round without him. But as for him looking “down there” I’m not so sure. I told him it would be “like watching your favourite pub burn down” does he want to be left with that image?

Most people say that in the last trimester they start to feel tired, which I have to say is true. But it isn’t like the tiredness in the first 12 weeks. In a strange way it’s a nice tired, knowing that your body is getting its rest so you can bring life I to the world. My hair is great and so is my skin, so much so that I can’t remember the last time I wore makeup in the daytime.

But most of all, as our little lady wriggles around, sticking her elbows and feet out of my tummy I feel blessed. So many people long to be in the situation I am in, and I by no means take it for granted. So when I sit there , worrying, fretting or complaining about how many people have called me huge that day, I count my blessings and realise I should embrace every aspect of my pregnancy.

Being pregnant can be one of the best times of your life but as you enter the third trimester, maternity leave is looming and the arrival of the baby is imminent, so what things should you be doing in those final weeks?

We asked some fellow parenting bloggers for their top tips of things to do in the last trimester.

There may have been other suggestions, such as get a good on demand TV package (!!) but we thought that these were certainly worth sharing. Thank you to Annie, Cerys, Otilia, Aly and Helen for their words of wisdom.

Have you found anything else you have enjoyed doing in the last trimester?